Internal-combustion engine



G. SIOHRER. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT19I I918.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I I g l GREGORY JOHN SPOHRER, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO CHARLES E. VAN VLECK, 015 MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

- INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. '7, 1920."

Application filed September 19, 1918; Serial No. 254,758.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, GREGORY J. SPOHRER, a citizen of the United States,residing at East Orange, in the county of Essex, State of New Jersey,have invented certain new. and useful Improvements inInternal-Combustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Wlllenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and particularlyto engines of this type designed for use in propelling aircraft.

The, design of internal combustionengines for aircraft has alwayspresented a serious difii'culty by reason of the varying atmosphericpressure at the different altitudes in which the engine is operated. Thereduction of the atmospheric pressure at altitudes at which aeroplanesare operated may reduce the compression pressure of the engine as muchas 50% or more. If the engine be designed to give the desiredcompression at a high altitude which is selected as the alti-. tude atwhich the aeroplane Willbe operated normally, then the difliculty ofrunning the engine when the aeroplane is on or near the ground isgreatly lncreased.

The present invention is. dlrected to the provision of a novel,construction for the propelling engine of an aeroplane including a meansfor effecting a regulation whereby the engine may be run on the groundreadily and also the desired compressionmay be obtained when the engineis operated at high altitudes. For this purpose provision is made foreffecting an adjustment of the size of the combustion chamber so that atwhatever altitude the engine is being operated the size of this chambernfay be so regulated as to produce the same degree of compression orsuch degree of compression as may be desired. 'Various mechanicalarrangements may be employed for so varying the volume of thecompression chamber to compensate for variations in atmospheric pressurebut that which I prefer to employ involves the provision of means forshifting the engine shaft and the-parts connected thereto in thedirection of the axes of the tons of the engine axially within theircylinders so that the pistons reciprocate over arange which is changedas the engine shaft is moved. Thus, as the aeroplane propelled by theengine mounts to higher altitudes,

the engine shaft may be moved by a suitable manual controlling mechanismbodily. to ward the upper ends of the cylinders and the pistons arecOrrespondinglymoved within the cylinders. Therefore, when each pis-mton is at the upper end of its compression stroke it is closer to theupper end of the cylinder and the volume of the compression space iscorrespondingly reduced. In this I Way the same degree of compression isobtained at the end of the compression stroke 7 in each cylindernotwithstanding the fact that the air admitted to the cylinder duringthe inlet stroke was air at a reduced pressure.

I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a construction which.may be employed in practising the invention and this construction willnow be described in detail but I wish it understood that the inventionis not limited to the employment of such a construction as thatillustrated in 8 away and sectioned in part; Fig. 2 is a transversesection of the engine; and Fig. 3. is an enlarged detail view of theindicator employed in connection with the manual controlling device. 1

Referring to these drawings, the engine is shown as having 4 cylindersarranged vertically in line though the number and arrangement :of thecylinders may, of course, be varied as desired, the cylinders 1 havingpistons 2 therein which are connected by connecting rods 5 to wrist-pins4 on the crank shaft which is inclosed Within the crank case 3. Thecompression chambers of the cylinders communicate with the usual. intakemanifold. as' indicated at 6, the inlet I port 7 being controlled byvalves 8 which are moved to and held in the closed positions by springs9 acting on their stems. The valves are operated by push-rods 10 which Icoa'ct ith cams 11 on the cam shaft 12.

The crank shaft 4 is not mounted in fixed bearings as is usual in.internal combustion engines but instead is so mounted as to permit it tobe moved bodily in a direction transverse to its axis, that is, in thedirection of the axes of the cylinders 1. The ends of the engine shaftmay be mounted for rotation in bearing blocks 13 which are arranged toslide vertically in ways provided for their reception upon the crankcase3. Each of these bearing blocks 13 is provided with a depending arm 14which is arrangedeto coact with the adjusting means whereby the engineshaft is moved vertically. This adjusting means is shown as' consistingof a shaft 15 mounted for rotation in bearings formed in the crank case3 and coacting with the depending arms 14 of the bearing blocks andprovided with means for turning the shaft' manually from a positionconvenient for the operator. The shaft 15 may have the portions thereofwhich coact with the arms 14 formed as eccentrics so that when the shaft15 is turned the eccentrics would move the arms 14 and the bearingblocks to which they are connected upwardly, the compression andexpansion pressures being relied upon to hold the ends of arms 14 incoaction with the, peripheries of'the eccentrics. I prefer, however, toprovide for moving the arms 14 and the bearing blocks positively in bothdirections. For this purpose, the shaft 15 may have box cams 27 thereon,the grooves of which receive lateral projections 26 upon the lower endsof the depending arms 14.

Any suitable mechanism may be provided for rotating the shaft 15manually from aposition convenient for the operator. In the drawings,one end of the shaft is shown asextending through its bearing andprovided with a worm wheel 16 meshing with a worm 17 on a short shaft 18mounted in bearings carried by' the crank case. On this shaft 18 is agear 20 meshing with a worm 21 on a shaft 22 which extends through atubularsupporting member 19 up to a point convenient forthe'operator-where it is provided with a hand wheel 23. This hand wheelis preferably provided with scale markings 25 and adjacent to it is anindex 24.

, Provision for bodily movement of the crank shaft as above describedshould not be.

allowed to disturbthe proper relation of the cam shaft to the crankshaft. Therefore, in the present instance the driving connection fromthe engine shaft to the cam shaft 12 is shown as including a telescopicconnection which permits the cam shaft 12 to be v -mounted stationarilyin its bearings while being driven from the bodily movable engine shaftOne of'thebearing blocks 13 is I shown as provided with a lateral arm 31carrying a short shaft 30 on which is a gear 29 meshing with ainion'28on the end of the engine shaft. he shaft 30 also carries a bevelgear 32'meshin with a similar gear 33 on a short vertical shaft whoseupper end carries a bevel gear 34.n1eshin with a bevel gear 35 on thecam shaft 12; his short vertical-shaft consists of two telescopicsections 36 and 37, the latter of which is of polygonal cross-sectionand fits into a similar shaped axial opening in the member 36.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that when theengine is in operation the volume of the compression chambers at theupper ends of the cylinders may be regulated as desired. It is merelynecessary for the operator to manipulate the wheel 23 and, in doing sohe may refer to the index 24 and the scale markings 25, as for instanceby positioning the wheel 23 with reference to the readings of aninstrument indicating altitude or atmospheric pressure. When the wheel23 is moved the shaft 15 is turned and the cams 2T thereon provided witheccentric cam grooves as is indicated in Fig. 2, operate to move thebearing blocks 13 and the engine shaft carried thereby broadly in thedirection of the axes of the cylinders 1. This moves the pistons 2within their cylinders so as to vary the range of the reciprocation ofthe pistons and thereby vary the volume of the compression chambers soas to regulate the compression pressure as desired 110twithstandingcharges in the pressure of the air which is drawn into the cylindersduring prising the combination of a cylinder, a-

piston therein, an engine shaft to which the piston is connected, acrank case, bearing blocks for the engine shaft movably mounted upon thecrank case, arms extending from the bearing blocks, a regulating shaftmounted for rotation in bearings formed in the crank case.and connectedto said arms for moving the bearing blocks and the engine shaft carriedthereby in a direction transverse to the length of the engine shaft, anda manual controlling member connected to the regulating shaft forturning it at will.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising the combination of .acylinder, a piston therein, an engine shaft to which the piston isconnected, means for moving the engine shaft and thepiston connectedthereto bodily to vary the size of the compression chamber at the end ofthe cylinder, a cam shaft, a valve controlling a port of the cylinderand actuated b the cam shaft and a driving connection rom the engineshaft to the cam shaft formed to compensate for the 'movements of theengine shaft relatively to piston therein, a crank case bearing blocksmovably mounted upon the crank case, an engine shaft mounted forrotation in the bearing blocks and connected to the piston, a regulatingshaft mounted for rotation in bearings formed in the crank case andconnected to the bearing blocks for moving them and the engine shaftcarried thereby in a direction transverse to the length of the engineshaft, a cam shaft mounted for rotation in bearings carried by the crankcase, a valve controlling a port of the cylinder and operated by the camshaft, and a driving' connection from the engine shaft to the cam shaftfor rotating the cam shaft in correspondence With the rotation of theengine shaft, said driving connection being formed signed for use at lowand high altitudes, a

cylinder a crank shaft, an intake valve, means for moving the crankshaft in the direction of the axis of the cylinders whereby to vary thevolume of the combustion chamber, and actuating means for said intakevalve operatively connected to said crank shaft designed to open saidvalve a substantially constant amount, in whatever adjusted position thecrank shaft may be.

In testimon whereof I afiix my si nature,

GRE ORY JOHN SPOH ER.

